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In light of recent unrest and violence in Ukraine in late 2013 and early 2014, UNHCR has published a Note calling on States to remove Ukraine from their ‘safe country of origin’ lists. Applicants for international protection from a designated ‘safe country of origin’ may be dealt with in an accelerated procedure with reduced safeguards.

On 16 January 2014, the Belgian Constitutional Court, following an appeal by several associations, partially annulled the law of 15 March 2012, because it does not give suspensive effect to an appeal by rejected asylum seekers from ‘safe countries of origin’.

Request for a preliminary ruling - Common European Asylum System - Application by a national of a third country seeking refugee status - Directive 2005/85/EC - Article 23 - Possibility of prioritising the processing of asylum applications - National procedure applying in a prioritised procedure for the examination of applications by persons belonging to a certain category defined on the basis of nationality or country of origin - Right to an effective judicial remedy - Article 39 of Directive 2005/85 - Concept of "court or tribunal" within the meaning of that article

On 15 May, the Belgian official journal published the list of safe countries of origin for 2013. The list includes the same seven countries as in 2012: Serbia, Montenegro, Albania, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and India.